Nigel Alfred Steven Atangana (born 9 September 1989) is a French professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Corbeil-Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture building ...

, Atangana made his senior debuts with

US Avranches L’Union Sportive Avranches Mont Saint Michel is a French football club based in Avranches, in the department of Manche, and founded in 1897. Since 2014 it plays in the Championnat National, the third tier of French football. The club has b ...

CFA 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

, after having trials at

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

, Gillingham,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

and

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

. After subsequently representing

SU Dives Sport Union Dives-Cabourg is a French association football club. They were founded in 1929 as Sport Union Divaise. They are based in the town of Dives-sur-Mer and their home stadium is the Stade André Heurtematte. In May 2016 they merged with ne ...

, he moved to Spain, joining

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

and being assigned to CF Riudellots, the club's

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

. Atangana was called up to the main squad in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

in November, but failed to appear with the club. In the 2013 summer Atangana moved to

US Gravelines Foot Union Sportive Gravelines Football is a French association football team founded in 1941. They are based in Gravelines, Nord. Their home stadium is the Stade des Huttes in the town. Playing it R2 – Hauts-de-France. History 1987-1993: Breakth ...

, also in France's fifth division. He appeared in 21 matches and scored once (the winner in a 2–1 home success against US Ailly-Sur-Somme on 1 December 2012).

Havant & Waterlooville

In September 2013, Atangana signed with

. He made his debut on the 30th, starting in a 1–1

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

draw against Gloucester City. Atangana made his league debut on 19 October, starting in a 0–0 draw against

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

. He scored his first goal for ''Hawks'' on 11 January of the following year, the game's only goal in a home win against

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 fr ...

. Atangana finished the season with 43 appearances and five goals, being named Havant & Waterlooville' Player of the Year.

Portsmouth

On 19 June 2014, Atangana signed a two-year contract with

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for the club on 9 August, coming on as a substitute for fellow debutant

Craig Westcarr Craig Naptali Westcarr (born 29 January 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Hucknall Town, having signed from Newark in July 2021. He began his career at Nottingham Forest, becoming the youngest player ever ...

in a 1–1 away draw against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. Atangana scored his first Pompey goal on 20 December, netting the equalizer in a 1–1 draw at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

. He appeared in 30 matches during the campaign, mainly due to the injury of starter

James Dunne James William Dunne (born 18 September 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays for Welling United. He is a box to box midfielder. Dunne started his career at Wimbledon's youth academy, before moving to Arsenal in 2004. He was lo ...

Leyton Orient

On 20 January 2016, Atangana joined

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

on an 18-month contract until the end of the 2016–17 season for an undisclosed fee. Atangana was given the number 15 upon arrival.

Cheltenham Town

On 28 May 2017, Atangana signed a two-year contract with

side

. He officially joined the Robins on 1 July 2017 when his contract with Leyton Orient came to an end.

Exeter City

On 20 May 2019 he joined League Two team Exeter City Football Club after leaving Cheltenham Town following a long term Achilles injury. Upon breaking into the side after recovering, he quickly became a fan favourite for his solid defensive play and his consistently high work rate, earning the fan-voted Player of the Month award for December. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2-2 draw at home to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

first round. After the 2020-21 season, fans found out that he signed a three-year contract after Exeter's retained list stated he was under contract for the 2021-22 season. Atangana made 19 appearances during, but was released at the end of the 2021–22 season following Exeter's promotion to League One.

Eastleigh

On 2 August 2022, Atangana joined

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

. He departed the club on a free transfer at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Havant & Waterlooville

In June 2024, Atangana returned to Southern League Premier Division South club Havant & Waterlooville.

Personal life

Atangana is of Cameroonian descent.

Career statistics

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Atangana, Nigel 1989 births Living people People from Corbeil-Essonnes Footballers from Essonne French men's footballers Men's association football midfielders US Avranches players SU Dives-Cabourg players Union Sportive Gravelines Football players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Championnat National 3 players National League (English football) players English Football League players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in England French sportspeople of Cameroonian descent